Grotte de Pair-non-Pair

Discovered in 1881, the cave of Pair-non-Pair contains engravings (featuring horses, ibexes, cervidae, mammoths) which rank among the most ancient examples of art made by prehistoric man (between 33 000 and 26 000 years old). Prehistoric objects and artefacts discovered at the Pair-non-Pair Caves are on display in a special museum section.

My sincere thanks to Monsieiur Gil Duporge, who brought the book Cheynier (1963) to my attention, (see the foot of this page for the photographs of the casts which were made at that time) and was so kind as to send me historical photographs of the early times at the cave.

He writes, in part:

The actors of the adventure of Pair-non-Pair were my family, the owner Baptiste Milepied then Pierre Macouillard his employee, who became his son-in-law and was my great grandfather.

When I was a child, my mother showed visitors the cave with a candleholder. It revealed these exceptional engravings, there were some magical properties of this method of discovering the cave, we do not find this wonder now with electric light, and the speed of the visit.

My brothers and I brought the visitors up to the cave through the vineyards (there was no road at the time in 1961/1968) People tipped us for some flints or shards of Gallo-Roman pottery picked up in the vineyard of my grandfather.

The Grotto is named after my family house 'Pair-Non-Pair', people parked in front of the gate of the house, which included two Gallo-Roman stones in its construction. The book Cheynier (1963) was given to my mother to thank her for her help in its production.

Photo of Pierre Macouillard with the candlestick that served as a light for visitors to the cave.

Photo and text: Courtesy M. Gil Duporge

Photo of Pierre Macouillard and Marguerite Milepied his wife, daughter of Baptiste Milepied, one of the first owners of the cave.

Pierre Macouillard was my great grandfather, and actively participated in the excavation of the cave under the direction of François Daleau.

He was the owner and guardian of the Grotto until his death in 1955.

Photo and text: Courtesy M. Gil Duporge

This is the present door to the cave. The original entrance was via what is called the corridor, which collapsed in the Châtelperronian, between 35 000 and 29 000 BP masking the original entrance to the cave.

The original entrance was then replaced by several secondary entrances which have since disappeared due to sedimentation. The cave was found almost completely covered by debris and sediment.

In 1881, a cow grazing in the meadow got its leg stuck in a hole. The employee of Mr. Barberin, owner of the land, discovered the cave when rescuing the cow. it had uncovered a hole in the roof of the Chamber of Engravings of Pair-non-Pair.

La grotte de Pair-non-Pair was discovered in 1881 by François Daleau. The engravings, which at the time were completely covered by archaeological layers were recognised in 1896.

Pair-non-Pair was the third decorated cave discovered in the world, its authenticity was never questioned, and it became one of the major arguments for the recognition of prehistoric art.

Human occupation of the cave can be divided into the Mousterian (~80 000 BP), the Chatelperronian (~40 000 BP), the Aurignacian (~30 000 BP) and the Gravettian (~25 000 BP).

Photo: http://www.usaquitaine.com/article11122010.htm

François Daleau

Photograph taken on 23rd June 1901, at his property Bourg.

A leader in the development of scientific methods of excavation and the recording of archaeological sites, François Daleau's notebooks carefully document all his comments on the stratigraphy of the layers, and the distribution of the objects found there.

He bequeathed thousands of flint tools, faunal remains, ornaments, and worked bones to the city of Bordeaux in 1927 and the 'Daleau Collection' remains a major part of the treasures of the Musée d'Aquitaine, and is still studied today.

The Mousterian flint tools from Pair-non-Pair shown in the images immediately below include:

• Racloirs - a type of side scraper distinctive of Mousterian assemblages. It is created from a flint flake and looks like a large scraper. As well as being used for scraping hides and bark, it may also have been used as a knife. Racloirs are most associated with the Neanderthal Mousterian industry.

• Mousterian points - the Levallois technique involving the striking of flakes from a prepared core.

• Grattoirs (scrapers) on flakes retouched at one end.

• Bifaces - hand axes in the Mousterian tradition.

Note that the individual tools were not named in the display case. The identifications below are my interpretations of their functions.

The cave was occupied for 60 000 years, including the time of the carving of the engravings. Seven layers of occupations were distinguished by François Daleau.

At 80 000 BP it was first occupied by Neanderthals. 40 000 years ago the first part of the cave, the 'Corridor' collapsed, greatly reducing the sheltered area.

At this point modern man gained access using another entry. The engravings are dated to between 35 000 BP, to 22 000 BP. They are attributed to the Aurignacian. Researchers have identified 46 prints, of which only about a dozen are faithfully preserved because of sedimentation in the cave.

The animals which are shown on the walls are not those they hunted. They hunted and consumed mainly reindeer, which is not a species represented in the engravings.

A few traces of ochre indicate that the engravings may originally have been coloured. Of the animals identified, 11 are Ibex, 6 are Horses, 4 are Aurochs, 4 are Deer, and there are 4 mammoths, and one Megaloceros engraving.

This ivory pendant is in the shape of a cowrie, an animal characteristic of tropical climates. Its Gravettian creator copied fossils present in the Aquitainian subsoil. Prehistoric people made personal ornaments, pendants and beads from shells and fossils. The scarcity of fossilised cowries must have made this type of shell very valuable, which inspired the craftsman to make a copy from mammoth ivory. The suspension ring is broken, which may explain why such an object of personal decoration was abandoned in the cave of Pair-non-Pair.

This is currently the only known European example of the prehistoric reproduction of a fossilised cowrie.

This is the traditional interpretation of the Agnus Dei horse engraving. David et Malvesin-Fabre (1950) decided to investigate the engraving using artificial light, set up in various ways, to bring out any extra lines of engraving, invisible when the engraving is lit from straight ahead.

They found that there was evidence that the engraving was actually of two animals, a horse and an ibex, facing in opposite directions. They write:

We decided to undertake a careful study which revealed other imperfections: the rump is not that of a horse, the tail is very short, and the legs do not resemble those of a horse but rather those of an ibex. Together with these findings, we also noticed that this engraving is eye catching because it is just opposite the current entrance to the cave, and this is where it receives direct light which gives it the classic appearance on arrival in the cave. We therefore tried several differing lighting setups using artificial light. A photograph was made for each lighting mode.

The neck and head do not belong to the same drawing as the body. The latter continues in the other direction to the lowered head of an ibex whose horns are clearly indicated. This head is perfectly connected with the neck in the position of a grazing animal. It is the line of the neck that Daleau noticed, delineating the neck of the equine animal, according to his interpretation.

It is clear to us that the ibex is a pregnant, which explains the moderate development of the horns, since it is a female.

(note that in my opinion, if the writers, David et Malvesin-Fabre (1950) are correct, someone has, at a later date, come through and added extra grooves to link the two animals into the familiar and iconic shape. The writers ignore the clear and distinct lines joining the head and body of the 'horse' - Don )

L'Abbé Breuil at the entrance to la grotte de Pair-non-Pair, getting his acetylene lamps ready for use.

Photo: By R. L. Doize, from the Musée de l'homme collections
Source and text: Cheynier (1963)

According to Cheynier (1963), there are 59 animals represented at Pair-non-Pair, as a result of the painstaking work of Abbé Breuil. Dalcau had deciphered only 18. There are 14 horses, 12 bovids, 8 ibex, 5 mammoths, and 5 bears. Of deer, there are only one deer, one red deer, and one megaceros, as well as a feline and a rhinoceros.

More photographs of sites and venuses are always welcome!
If you would like a particular archaeological site to be covered here, if you have questions or comments, or if you have any photographs or information which would be useful for Don's Maps please contact Don Hitchcock at don@donsmaps.com

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